Misplaced Milk Mustache

February 6, 1998

She made a very appealing subject. And we can't find much to take exception to in the message - that milk drinking is wholesome. But the current "milk mustache" ad featuring Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala is a little unsettling nonetheless.

Somehow this seems a particularly inapt time for any high government official to be shilling for a powerful industry - even one with a relatively good public image and even when the fee normally given for such posing is waived. We know this is nothing like the entwinement of politicians, officials, and monied interests all too common in Washington, but, still, this is the age of media-driven celebrity. Who might come next after a bright-faced Cabinet officer?